I’m interviewing for a software dev job currently (it’s in the initial stages). If things work out, I’d absolutely prefer a work laptop with Linux installed (I personally use PopOS but any distro will do), a Mac will be second choice, but I absolutely cannot tolerate Windows, I abhor it, I hate it… (If all computers left on earth have Windows I’d either quit this field or just quit Earth).
Sometimes it’s possible to tell if they use Windows or not, for example, jobs with dotnet/C# are most likely using windows, but not in my case.
Anyways, is it too weird to ask what kind of laptop they provide to their employees? And to also specifically ask for a Linux (or anything but windows) work laptop?
I KNOW I’m gonna get A LOT of hate for typing this, but if a MacBook is cheaper than the laptop you want, you should get a MacBook…
No way. Even if you try to run Linux on it, the keyboard is a mac mangled keyboard.
You’re better off leaving it on MacOS, which is still better than Windows but not by much
If the laptop I want is more expensive that a MacBook its because it has some serious hardware or very specialized feature set. If you want an average spec machine save the money and just get it instead of MacBook
What does that even mean?
The Apple M_ processors are great for performance to power usage ratio (and peak performance in general), so a MacBook is a good choice of laptop (even to run Linux on it).
Linux is currently not available on Apple silicon as anything other than a half baked alpha build with a ton of essential stuff missing. Not even remotely ready to be used as the primary OS. And that’s on the M1. It’s even worse on the more recent chips.
I run Asahi Linux on the M1, and it’s been working great for the last six months or so.
Edit: I wouldn’t necessarily recommend buying one to run Linux at the moment, for one thing they’re overpriced, but I was clarifying why the original comment would have suggested an M1.
Nah https://linuxreviews.org/Macs_%26_MacOS:_Greener_Grass%3F